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Randy Barth CONTACT: Judy Cooper – 949/280-6545 cell; 949-640-8828 phone –– [email protected] HIGH RESOLUTION PHOTOS AVAILABLE FOR DOWNLOAD at http://www.strawberryfestival.org TH 59 ANNUAL GARDEN GROVE STRAWBERRY FESTIVAL NAMES RANDY BARTH PARADE THEME GRAND MARSHAL AND BURT WARD AS CELEBRITY GRAND MARSHAL -- Fourteen Additional Celebrities to be Honored -- Burt Ward GARDEN GROVE, Calif. – May 1, 2017 – The 59th annual Garden Grove Strawberry Festival parade will be held on Saturday, May 27, 2017. This year’s theme is “Honoring Our Community Volunteer Superheroes,” and in support of the theme, two superhero grand marshals will lead the parade. THINK Together founder and CEO Randy Barth as been named Theme Grand Marshal, and Burt Ward, who played Robin in the ABC-TV Batman series, is this year’s Celebrity Grand Marshal. Fourteen other celebrities will also be honored in the parade: Mekia Cox, Kate Flannery, Raphael Alejandro, Alicia Willis, Dalila Bela, Trinitee Stokes, Tom Choi, Grace Kaufman, Daniel DiMaggio, Ryan Ochoa, Beth Hall, Bruce Saloman, Brandon Russelll, and California Miss Outstanding Teen Jenna Tower, a Garden Grove native. The Mekia Cox four-day festival will be held Memorial Day Weekend Friday, May 26 through Monday, May 29, 2017. Randy Barth is the THINK Together Founder and CEO and the executive chairman of the Principal's Exchange. THINK Together is a nonprofit organization collaborating with communities, parents, and schools to help support and create excellence and equity in education for all kids. They provide early learning programs for 0-5 year olds and expanded learning programs for K-12 students. THINK Together serves more than 100,000 students across more than 400 locations and 40 school districts statewide in California. Principal's Exchange is a benefit corporation (B-Corp) that for 16 years has provided customized Kate Flannery solutions for schools and school districts to drive performance in student achievement. Burt Ward was a true “Boy Wonder” as a teenager, strong in martial arts, wrestling, track, tennis and golf, combined with a sharp intellect. He was clocked as the world’s fastest reader by the American Medical Society and holds a black belt in karate. A special piece of movie trivia is that Bruce Lee’s first filmed fight scene of his career was fighting Burt Ward. (In fact, in 2015 Burt was inducted into the International Karate and Kickboxing Hall of Fame.) So it was a natural for him to be cast as Robin, The Boy Wonder in the Batman TV series for ABC-TV. Fame followed with hundreds of personal appearances, press and even the cover of Life magazine. As an adult, he received the Harvard “Man of the Year” award. In 1994, Burt Raphael and his wife, Tracy Posner Ward, rescued a Great Dane in distress , and learning that big breed dogs have a Alejandro short life span, started the non-profit charity Gentle Giants Rescue and Adoptions, saving over 15,000 dogs in its 22 years of operation. The company also markets a dog food line that has greatly extended the life span of large breed dogs, which Ward will be selling and autographing at the festival for his charity. Mekia Cox has a recurring role as Dr. Robyn Charles on the NBC hit drama Chicago Med. In 2009 she was one of the lead dancers on Michael Jackson's world tour This Is It. Not long after, she was cast as DJ Sasha, on CW’s hit series 90210. She was also a series regular on NBC's Undercovers and on TNT’s Mob City. Most Alicia Leigh Willis Page 1 of 4 recently, she starred in three prime time shows: TV Land’s Impastor and ABC’s Secrets and Lies. With a Bachelor of Music degree in musical theatre and two national Broadway tours (Fame and Smoke Joe’s Café), she shares her passion for the stage in her own production company, Little Man Productions, producing Broadway at the W, a stage show that highlights the best performances in Broadway. Kate Flannery is an actor, writer and singer best known for her nine seasons as Meredith the Drunk on NBC’s The Office. She also recurs on ABC’s American Housewife, Cartoon Network’s Steven Universe and Dalila Bela Comedy Central’s Another Period and has guest starred on FOX’s New Girl and Brooklyn Nine Nine as well as MTV’s Mary+Jane. Kate is currently Jane Lynch’s sidekick in her anti-cabaret act, See Jane Sing playing the Kennedy Center, Joe’s Pub and 30 cities over the past two years. In addition, Kate's original cult comedy lounge act, The Lampshades, plays comedy festivals and Hollywood regularly. Raphael Alejandro has an impressive resume which includes the leading role in How to Be a Latin Lover starring Salma Hayak, Rob Lowe, and Kristin Bell. He has another leading role in Kindergarten Cop 2, and has been a series regular on ABC’s Nerd Herd. He’s also been seen regularly on NBC’s Olympus, as well as on Once Upon a Time which airs on ABC. He was nominated in the 2014 Young Artist Awards as the best performance in a TV series for his role in Almost Human. He is fluent in Spanish, French and Portuguese. Trinitee Stokes Alica Leigh Willis is a twice Emmy-nominated actress best known for her role of Corey Conway on the long running hit TV series, 7th Heaven and as mob moll Courtney Mathews on ABC's General Hospital. She began her career working in commercials. At the age of nineteen, Alicia landed the role of Ali Fowler on Another World. Leaving daytime behind, she continued guest starring on television and in supporting film roles, landing the title role of Elizabeth Wakefield on American Heiress. After taking time off to raise a family, she has recently returned to the film world starring in A Family Trust. Tom Choi Veteran young actor Dalila Bela was born in Montreal, Canada. Her numerous credits include the film Diary of A Wimpy Kid plus TV roles in ABC’s Once Upon a Time, as well as a lead role in The Adventure Club. Most recently, Dalila landed the role of Diana Berry in the Netflix original Series Anne. Her leading role in the PBS Network series Odd Squad inspired an invitation from the White House to be a guest at the annual 2015 Easter Egg Hunt, an incredible honor. At age seven she took home the Young Actors Award two years in a row; once for her accurate portrayal of a Russian speaking girl in The Stranger. In 2014, Dalila won best actress at the Diabolique Film Festival for her portrayal of a blind girl in the short Dead Hearts. She works with the Carecem Foundation to help low-income kids attend summer camp in Los Angeles. She Grace Kaufman is fluent in English, French, Portuguese and Spanish. Trinitee Stokes is well known for her role as Judy Cooper on the Disney Channel original series, K.C. Undercover. Off camera, Trinitee is a gifted voiceover artist, lending her voice for Disney’s Princess Tiana doll (not yet released). She also excels in singing-songwriting, dance, comedy, and fashion. Her Designs by The Trinitee fashion brand has had rousing success, with designs that rocked the runway of the 2013 Designer Kids Project. Musically, Trinitee recently released her new single, “Miss Me,” ( on iTunes and Amazon) and is preparing for performances at soon- to-be-announced locations. Daniel DiMaggio Tom Choi is well known for playing Ken Yukimura on the teen fan favorite Teen Wolf on MTV. Choi recently recurred on NCIS: LA and Agent Carter and guest-starred on Hawaii Five-0, NCIS and Nicky, Ricky, Dicky & Dawn. Choi is no stranger to Disney audiences. He recurred as the memorable Mr. Hashimoto on both The Suite Life on Deck and A.N.T. Farm. Born in Taegu, South Korea ,Choi moved to the U.S when he was four years old. He holds a Bachelor of Arts degree in drama from The University of Washington, and has attended the LACC School of Cinema and Television, adding producing, directing and writing to his credits. Ryan Ochoa Grace Kaufman most recently can be seen in the new CBS comedy Man With A Plan playing Matt LeBlanc’s daughter Kate Burns. Kaufman began her TV career in TNT's The Closer and continued to guest star in NBC’s Free Agents, Disney’s JESSIE, Nickelodeon’s Deadtime Stories, the CBS series Bad Teacher, Page 2 of 4 and most recently in TNT’s The Last Ship. Films include the short film Buttons In The Ground for which she won Best Actress at the Hollyshorts Film Festival. Her extensive voice-over work includes that of Deema in Bubble Guppies and Melody Mouse in Micky Mouse Clubhouse. She’s had numerous roles in live theater. Most recently, she starred in Branden Jacobs-Jenkins’ Appropriate at Los Angeles’ Mark Taper Forum. Daniel DiMaggio is a series regular on ABC’s American Housewife playing the middle child Oliver Otto. He has also appeared as young Kal-El in Supergirl and will travel to Boston to play young Mark Wahlberg in Beth Hall the movie Daddy’s Home Part 2. Daniel has run the LA Marathon and has played travel baseball in the Cooperstown Dreams Tournament. Ryan Ochoa is best known for his series regular role as Lanny on Disney's Pair of Kings. He just wrapped the role of Eli in the feature film, The Samuel Project, due out in 2018. He’s had recurring roles on iCarly and Mr.